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Michele Hunt
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Ms. Hunt is internationally known for her work as a change catalyst and ā€œthinking partnerā€ to leaders of organizations and communities on leadership development, organizational transformation, and organizational effectiveness. She works with leaders and their teams to help transform their organizations to higher levels of participation, teamwork and performance. Her work is rooted in the principles of shared vision, values, alignment and continuous learning.

Michele launched her firm in 1995. Her customers have included leadership teams of IBM, Motorola, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Popular, Inc. EVERTEC, Banco Popular of North America, Bright China Management Institute, Banco Do Brazil, BHP of Australia, The US Veterans Administration, Food and Drug Administration, National Park Service, The leadership team of the Chicago Public Schools, Junior Achievement of New York City, World Vision International, The Episcopal Divinity School at Harvard, and the Aruba Quality Foundation - Community Vision Project

Michele is also a keynote speaker at conferences around the world for businesses, not for profit organizations and communities. Her presentations are founded on her belief that people have the capacity to create far better futures than we have dared to dream. She comes to these beliefs through her personal and professional experiences and through her research on others who have dreamed big and turned their dreams into reality. She published these stories in her book, DreamMakers: Putting Vision & Values to Work. Her public speaking topics include:

- The Power of DreamMakers: Personal Stories Of DreamMakers

- Visionary Leadership: Putting Vision & Values to Work

- The Secret To Cultural Transformation: Engagement, Participation & Teamwork

- The Inclusive Organization: A Rich Reservoir for Creativity, Performance & Learning

In 1992 Ms. Hunt served on President Bill Clinton’s Transition Team. In 1993 she was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the Executive Director of the Federal Quality Institute. The institute's mission was to help seed the reinvention of government agencies as a part President Clintons initiative The National Performance Review: Creating a Government That Works Better and Cost Less, lead by Vice President Al Gore. She brought progressive thought leaders and organizations to work alongside the Cabinet Deputy Secretaries in a public-private partnership on this initiative including: Peter Drucker, John Gardner, Max De Pree, Frances Hesselbein, Peter Senge, GE, Ford, and Herman Miller.

Prior to this appointment, Michele spent 13 years with Herman Miller, Inc., a Fortune 500 global office furniture company. She served on the executive leadership team as Senior Vice President for People, reporting to Max De Pree, CEO and Chairman. In this capacity she led the company’s organizational transformation. She was responsible for global Leadership Development, ā€œHuman Resourcesā€, Quality Management, Corporate Communications, and Change Management. The company’s organizational transformation resulted in Herman Miller becoming: Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Company and America’s Top 10 ā€œBest Companies in America to Work For. The company also was recognized as the Best Company for Women, and The Best Company for Working Mothers. Herman Miller also received the prestigious Bertelsmann Award as The Best Managed Companies in the World, and numerous environmental awards. During her 13 years with the company, Michele also served as Director of Corporate Relations including: government, media, shareholder and community relations.

Michele began her career with the Michigan Department of Corrections as one of the first two female probation officers to supervise adult male felons on probation in Detroit, Michigan. She served as Executive Director of Michigan’s only halfway House for female felons, and later became Michigan’s first female Deputy Warden, leading programs for rehabilitation in a male prison.

Michele Is the author of DreamMakers: Putting Vision & Values To Work. She is also the conceptual director of the documentary DreamMakers, a film that features compelling stories of people who made their hopes and dreams come true, against tremendous obstacles. She also contributed chapters to The Fifth Discipline, By Peter Senge; Leading People, by Robert Rosen and The Diversity Action Book, by Janet Crenshaw Smith.

Michele is an adjunct professor in the Executive Education Program at Georgetown University.

She has served on the boards of directors of Hewitt Associates, ServiceMaster Company and the board of trustees of Union Institute and University. She currently serves on the boards of directors of the Center for Digital Inclusion (www.cdi.org.br) and the Detroit Windsor Dance Academy.

She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in sociology from Eastern Michigan University and the University of Detroit, respectively.

Blog Entries by Michele Hunt

Thanks to the Internet, 'We the People' Now Have the Capacity to Choose a Positive Future!

(10) Comments | Posted April 30, 2013 | 8:07 AM

There are some people who choose the dark side of life, those who commit acts of terror and destruction as we recently witnessed with the horrific Boston Marathon bombings. Those who choose to hurt and abuse people and the planet remind us of what humans are capable of when they...

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Is It Better to Understand Than to Be Understood?

(2) Comments | Posted February 28, 2013 | 7:19 AM

My family and I were sitting around my mother's dinning room table when this question popped into my head. Having a very vocal family where everyone has strong opinions, I knew I was in for a hearty conversation. I was surprised however at how this simple question ignited a fascinating,...

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The World Has Ended, As We Know It - NOW WHAT?

(0) Comments | Posted December 21, 2012 | 8:41 AM

If you are reading this that means we are still here, and yet the old world has faded away and the remnants that are left are dysfunctional. We are at the dawn of a new era. A dear friend of mine put it beautifully when he said, "The past has...

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Business as an Agent of World Benefit: A World-Shaping Opportunity

(0) Comments | Posted November 8, 2012 | 7:13 AM

"Imagine a world of nine billion people with clean water, quality food, affordable housing and education, top-tier medical care, ubiquitous clean energy, dignified opportunity, thriving economies, and global peace and security."

Do we have the courage to dream such an audacious, bodacious vision? Is it possible for us to...

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The Center for Digital Inclusion: Transforming Lives and Uplifting Communities by Bridging the Digital Divide

(0) Comments | Posted September 28, 2012 | 8:46 AM

My passion, my personal mission in life, is to spotlight and share stories of people, organizations and communities that are making their hopes and dreams come true against tremendous obstacles -- while doing good in our world. I call these people DreamMakers. I share these "pockets of hope" wherever and...

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Who Says We Can't Change the World -- Watch Us!

(1) Comments | Posted August 24, 2012 | 11:41 AM

I believe we can change the world; in fact, we are doing it person-by-person, organization-by-organization and community-by-community. In the mist of all the chaos, conflict, negativism and cynicism surrounding us, there is a rising movement to transform our world into one that values and respects all people, life and all...

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Love or Fear: Our Choice

(0) Comments | Posted June 27, 2012 | 8:27 AM

How do you want to spend the rest of your life? In what kind of world do you want your children and grand children to live -- a world built on fear or a world built on love?

I believe the opposite of love is not hate -- it is...

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A Mother: A Parent, and a Friend -- A Powerful Combination

(91) Comments | Posted May 11, 2012 | 4:45 PM

My mother and daughter are my best friends. We are three grown women who share a beautiful, unshakable bond. Our life journey is a testimony that a mother can be a parent, and a friend. I have never understood the rational that mothers should not be friends with their daughters...

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The "War" Between Working Moms and Stay-at-Home Moms Is a Farce.

(5) Comments | Posted April 20, 2012 | 9:03 AM

The "war" between working moms and stay-at-home moms is a farce. It was manufactured by politicians and hyped by the media. Moms are moms. We are all challenged with the ominous responsibility of birthing and nurturing life. I never had the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom; I was the...

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It's Time to Rethink and Reshape Our Organizational Cultures

(0) Comments | Posted April 12, 2012 | 8:28 AM

Attracting and retaining the best and the brightest, and achieving extraordinary results is simple; create a great organizational culture -- A Culture For People. One of the most important jobs of a leader is to create and manage the organization's culture. To create a culture of greatness, a leader has...

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Bullying In the Public Discourse Is Not Leadership

(10) Comments | Posted March 14, 2012 | 2:03 PM

Max De Pree, former CEO of Herman Miller constantly reminded those of us who served on the leadership team that "Leadership is a serious meddling in other people's lives". When I got too full of myself and used my position to dismiss or exclude people, Max would pull me aside...

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A Tribute to My Parents in Celebration of Black History Month

(5) Comments | Posted February 17, 2012 | 7:45 AM

I am an unapologetic optimist, not because I see the world through rose-colored glasses or have Pollyannaish sensibilities, it's because I have been a student of DreamMakers all my life -- my Parents. Mom and dad are the two most courageous, caring, visionary people I have ever met; they are...

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2012: A New Day

(27) Comments | Posted January 6, 2012 | 6:45 AM

We are at the beginning of a year that is poised to be momentous and unlike any time we have experienced in the history of humankind. Some believe it is the beginning of the end of the world; I believe they are right -- figuratively. The changes we have experienced...

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The Genie Is Out of the Bottle -- People Everywhere are Claiming Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

(139) Comments | Posted December 2, 2011 | 8:44 AM

As we look around our world we see a plethora of outcries, protest and revolutions demanding change. On the surface they seem to be very different groups with different agendas, from vastly different cultures, different races and even different generations. The remarkable thing however, is that this phenomena is happening...

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